A few months ago I had the opportunity of doing make up for two episodes of a Channel 5 TV series called ‘In Cold Blood’. And boy is there a world of difference on set for photoshoots and drama TV!

For TV, the fans and air-conditioning is often turned off and temperatures soar when crammed into a tiny room with intense emotions or when standing in our crazy afternoon sun. So out comes the tissue and powder ever so often to ward off sweat and shine!

Furthermore, everything needs to be dead quiet and still during filming which leads to a whole bunch of people trying to stay out of the way and not cast shadows, but keeping close enough on standby in case anything else is needed when the director yells “cut!”

Scene changes are fast and furious and hair and makeup have to change equally quickly to match the character and script. This and the shoot often lasts way more than 12 hours at a go (and filming for these episodes was two days in a row). Talk about intense!

The fun thing though is that you get to see the story unravel before your eyes so it’s like watching a play live (in disjointed parts. and on repeat). It’s also great to build different dimensions of a character with hair and makeup compared to beauty or fashion looks for photo shoots.

Sharing the end-credits here and kudos to the great team that made this show awesome!